by Nigel Seed
After a delay of two minutes for the gas to spread and take effect on the sleepers, the gas mask equipped SEALs entered the cabins cautiously and checked their targets. All were breathing deeply and not moving. The teams worked swiftly to secure the hands and feet of everyone they found. Gags were placed over their mouths and then breathing was checked to ensure no untoward casualties.
With the crew and passengers secured, the rest of the boat was searched rapidly and effectively. There was no sign of any other people aboard and no sign of any of the cash or bearer bonds. There were some antiques stored in the central laboratory area, but no paintings or jewelery. On a bench mounted to a side bulkhead they found a glorious crucifix and two beautifully detailed candle holders. The loot from the bombed church would be reconsecrated and returned after the rebuilding.
They returned to the main deck. There was no movement on the pier and no sign of the yacht that had been there in the surveillance photographs. They had completed half their mission and had no way of securing the yacht and completing the other half. They were now free to move on to their secondary objective to help to secure the buildings with the group from boat three. They left the trawler and moved along the pier onto the island. All their heads were swiveling left and right as they used the night vision devices to scan for any enemy presence. They found nothing as they moved carefully along the track that led toward the main house. As they came within the range of their more powerful radios, the section leader started to transmit to tell the team from boat three that they were moving toward them. No point in having any blue on blue incidents on this mission.
Chapter 41
The third black boat had traveled around to the far side of the island to approach the main house from the sea. They came around the low headland and into the bay below the house as slowly as possible, so as to make no wake in the water. The troops scanned for any sign of movement in the green world that the night vision goggles fed to their eyes. The house showed up brightly both as a heat source and from the subdued lights showing through the curtained windows. There was no sound except the quiet burble of the outboard engine and the lapping of the sea on the beach. They waded ashore and the boat pulled away out of sight, to be ready if needed. They walked out of the water on to the dry sand, fanning out as they did so. They were alert for any movement, any sound. Yet still the sound when it came was a shock.
The noise of a 7.62 mm medium machine gun is loud and harsh, particularly for those it is pointing at. The gun roared its challenge from the shadows of the terrace and started to sweep the beach. There was no cover on white sands, which are more suitable for sun bathing and windsurfing. Their only hope was to move and move fast into the small cover provided by the rising land and the few palm trees at the back of the beach. The only way to get there was to run toward the machine gun, a tactic that had not worked well in the First World War and was unattractive even now.
Despite their speed and training, the SEALs could not outrun a flying bullet and the man out to the right of the group was caught and chewed by the rapid stream of copper jacketed rounds. The next SEAL in line was luckier as the high speed rounds struck his arm and shoulder. Luck is relative when dealing with bullets of this size and the two that hit him did a lot of damage as they spun him around and threw him backwards on to the sand. SEALs are nothing if not determined and despite the injuries he crawled into cover, still gripping his weapon.
The other three slithered forwards into whatever folds in the ground they could find. The operation was blown wide open so any stealthy movement from now was pointless. The next two men in the line were pinned face down in the slightest of cover and could not move forward or backward. The man out to the left was in a better position. He had found a useful depression in the earth and was worming his way along, to the left of the house. As he reached the top of the small crest he could see men issuing out from the other side of the house carrying assault rifles and fanning left and right. His team would be outflanked in minutes with nowhere to go. Five men formed an extended line on his side of the house and prepared to work their way carefully toward the beach. He had seen another six go to the other side, but he could no longer see them. He had to assume they were doing the same thing. As he waited and prepared to disrupt the advance coming toward him, he could hear one of the other members of his section broadcasting on the short range radios to try and bring aid from the rest of the assault group. He could hear no replies and had to assume he was on his own for this action.
The machine gun paused, maybe searching for targets or maybe changing ammunition belts. In either case it allowed his two colleagues to lift themselves enough to throw grenades toward the house. One was a fragmentation grenade and did little except blast in the windows on this side of the house. The second was a “Flash Bang” grenade intended to be used inside buildings to disorientate. It landed in front of the line advancing toward him and the bright flash in the darkness dazzled them for the few seconds he needed to dash further left into a covering position.
With luck he would be able to take two, maybe three, of them before his position was compromised. He waited.
Chapter 42
Martinez took point and led Jim and his party toward the launching ramp outlined against the stars. There was no movement nearby and no sign of the stubby winged missiles. They checked the ramp itself and that appeared to be complete and ready for use. They found a smooth concrete pathway that led from the rear of the ramp to a store shed some one hundred meters away. They approached it cautiously and checked around the building. There was a path beaten through the underbrush toward the main house and many footprints in the sand around the building.
Jim moved to the front door of the building near the ramp with Ivan at his shoulder while the others stood watch. He eased the door open and stepped inside. For a moment there was silence, then two men rose up from behind crates at the right side of the building. In the green light of the night vision equipment, their automatic rifles were appallingly clear and swinging toward him. Two muted cracks followed immediately by two more preceded the collapse to the ground of the two guards.
Ivan whispered, “Twenty years of Army service and that’s the first time I have used the double tap I was taught in basic training for real. Works well, doesn’t it?”
They checked the two guards for a pulse. They had paid dearly for sitting down to rest instead of keeping watch.
They moved further in and looked around. They found themselves inside a stone building with a hard packed dirt floor, surrounded by V1 Flying Bombs resting on handling trolleys. They closed the door to hide the light as they shone their torches first on the two gunmen who were not going to trouble anybody anymore and then on the first missile inside the main door. They checked the warhead and found that it was one of the chemical ones they had seen in the secret base in Kiel. The next two were exactly the same. The suspected attack on Miami was clearly a reality and they were just in time.
They slipped back outside and called the other team members together to report what they had encountered within the store house.
“We have about nine Flying Bombs in there all fueled and ready to go with primed chemical warheads fitted. We need the quickest way to neutralize them in case we are disturbed. Ideas?”
Ivan spoke, “Boss, the mechanism itself is fairly uncomplicated. Once the bomb has been flying for the programed time a guillotine mechanism cuts the elevator control cables and sends it into a dive. If we cut those cables now they are useless. Even if they were to launch they would fall into the sea quite close to shore.”
“Good thinking. We’ll do that and then deal with the warheads in slower time when we have some daylight.”
They heard the machine gun open fire from the other side of the main house.
Jim stood to look toward the firing “We’ve got trouble by the sound of it. Geordie, Martinez, carry out a reconnaissance. Find out what’s going on and report back to me.”
Martinez looked a
s though he was going to object to Jim taking charge, but it was people from his team in trouble and he needed to know too. The two men slipped away into the darkness. The remaining three returned to the store house.
Jim called Andrei over, “I need you to watch the door. Whatever is happening over there we daren’t let anyone stop this little piece of sabotage.”
The smaller man nodded and tucked himself down beside the door and faded into the shadows. Ivan by now had his toolkit rolled out and had selected the screwdriver he needed to open the panel in the side of the flying bombs main body. He set to work on the nearest one as Jim stepped past him to start on the next.
With the first panel open Ivan found that the bolt cutters he was going to use to cut the cable would not fit in far enough to get the blades either side of the cable. He called Jim over and explained the problem. They worried at the problem briefly until they realized they could reach the guillotine mechanism itself. A little experimentation with a piece of wire they found on the floor and the mechanism triggered, severing the cables and allowing the elevator at the rear of the missile to sag slightly. With their new solution the work went faster than anticipated and they were back outside when Martinez reappeared. He briefed Jim and the other two remaining members of the team on what was happening. He described the two groups of the enemy about to sweep onto the beach and the position of the dominating machine gun. Geordie arrived back a few minutes later.
“Boss,” he said “the team from boat two are moving up on the right. They will appear behind the group that side and I think that leaves us with the enemy team on the left to deal with. But we need to move PDQ; I think the lads on the beach are in trouble.”
Jim was still, remembering the topography of the island. It was fairly flat open country but the enemy would have their attention facing the other way and darkness was still in their favor.
“Right,” he said, “Martinez, we have to change the orders if we are going to help your people, and forgive me, but we don’t have time to argue. We advance in line abreast keeping visual contact with the man either side. Keep spread out and call in when you make contact with the targets. Absolute quiet, but move as swiftly as we can without alerting the unfriendlies. Let’s go.”
Martinez nodded. “I’m going to catch hell from Wallace for this, but you’re right.”
They moved away from the weapon store toward the house, avoiding the trodden path. While the two teams of enemy gunmen who had tumbled out of the house were disciplined and clearly knew what they were doing, they were hampered by having no radios and were forced to coordinate their advance by shouting between the groups. This was a gift to the two groups moving up behind them.
As they closed in Jim spoke softly into his helmet mounted radio. “Team two, this is Team one. We are closing on the enemy combatants to the left of the house. Will be in position to assault in figures one minute.”
A soft Texas drawl answered, “This team will be in place just before you. So you had better open the ball when you are ready.”
Jim replied, “Roger that.”
They moved forwards and the position of the team preparing to rush the beach showed up clearly in the night vision lenses.
“Team two, Team one is in position. All call signs fire now!”
He stood to get a clear shot over the scrubby plants in front of him and fired. He saw the others doing likewise. The suppressed MP5 kicked against his shoulder and he saw his target fall. He could hear the quiet spluttering of the suppressed weapons and knew the rest of his team were doing the same. He looked away from his target and along the line of the enemy at this side of the house, none were standing. He had heard the rapid and effective assault from the silenced weapons of Team two on the other side of the house so had no worries there.
He spoke into his radio again. “Martinez, Andrei, check the targets, secure any that are still alive. Ivan, Geordie with me to the back of the house. Move.”
He did not wait to confirm they were coming to him. He knew how reliable these men were. He knew he should leave this to the SEALs, but they were still dealing with the enemy troops and the team on the beach needed help quickly. They skirted around the swimming pool, avoiding the sun loungers and reached the entrance door of the house. They flattened against the stone walls, still warm from the heat of the day. Geordie reached across and tried the door handle. The men who had boiled out of here during the attack had not thought to relock it and the door swung silently inwards.
Chapter 43
Ivan put a hand on Jim’s arm as he stepped past him and took the lead into the house, Geordie too stepped in front of him. Jim smiled, even after all this they were still acting like NCOs and looking after him. To the right the passage ended in a large bedroom. It was empty. To the left the passage took them to a lounge area with a picture window looking out onto the swimming pool and terrace. They slipped between the furniture and moved carefully toward the seaward side of the house. The door at the other end of the lounge opened into an impressive dining room with a long table down the center.
As Ivan entered he saw movement at the end of the room by the window. A man was standing at the side of the window with an automatic rifle. He saw Ivan moving out of the corner of his eye and started to spin round, bringing up the weapon as he did. This time the two low cracks from the MP5 came from Jim’s weapon. The man thumped back against the wall and slid to the floor. Both rounds had gone through his forehead giving him no chance to cry out. The clatter of his weapon falling from his grip was covered by the machine gun starting to fire again.
The three moved to the door leading out of the dining room and again flattened themselves against the wall, they were close. Ivan tried the handle this time and swung the door open. Geordie stepped through to find himself behind a two-man machine gun team. The gunner aiming and firing the weapon while the loader kept the belt of ammunition feeding properly and linked new belts on as the current one shortened. Geordie supposed later that he could have arrested the two, but he was no policeman and the years of Army training kicked in as he swung left to right and emptied a magazine into the two of them.
Ivan and Jim stepped into the room behind him and looked at the two men lying against the kitchen units. They would not be any trouble to anyone anymore. They swept the rest of the house as quickly as possible and reported the all clear. Team two helped by the left hand man from team three had dealt with the attackers to the right of the house. There were no prisoners to interrogate. Leaving two men to recover and pile the weapons from the downed enemy, the rest went forward to check on the remainder of team three. The two men who had been trapped in the small gulley rose up to meet them, heartily relieved. The man who had made it to the left of the firing line came back to check on his team. They found the wounded man, who had done a fair job of patching his own wounds and made sure he was in a comfortable place.
Then seven of them walked across to the body lying face down in the sand. It was Wallace, the large, impressive man who had met them when they first reached the SEAL team. Jim looked across the body at Martinez and saw a single tear roll down his cheek. The bonds of comradeship were strong in these Special Forces soldiers. Once again he could not help but be impressed.
“Let’s move him somewhere more comfortable,” Jim said, “he deserves that.”
They bent down as a group and lifted the fallen man. Three Americans, two from the British Army and a Russian special policeman stumbled across the shifting sand with the big team leader between them, any national differences forgotten by men who had worked together and shared the same risks. He was laid below a tall palm tree with his weapons in his hands to await repatriation to the land he had died for on an island without a name.
Chapter 44
They sat above the beach and Martinez called for the three boats to come into the pier to be ready to pick them up. The shouting came from a SEAL who was running along the low ridge.
“The missiles are launching!”
; He was pointing toward the launch ramp. Jim guessed that the launch crews had been in the other two store houses that had not been checked after the firing started and the mission went awry. No matter, the birds could not fly if they could not control their own tail feathers. He heard one of the SEAL group leaders on his longer range radio using the pre-arranged code words
“Boomer! Boomer! Birds are in flight!”
Now that was probably my fault, thought Jim. He must be getting old, needing to get his breath back before giving the team leaders a situation report. He stood and walked up to the house and around the corner to where he could see the launch ramp. He could see the pulsing fire of the old jet driving the missile up the ramp. He turned and watched the first missile climbing into the dark sky. The pulsing fire against the dark cloud was quite pretty, but the thundering noise of the engine was unnerving.
Something was wrong. The Flying Bomb should have plunged into the sea by now. He looked back to the second stubby winged missile in time to see it nose over and plunge into the calm water. But the first one was still flying. His heart sank.
Oh Hell! They must have missed one. If they had missed one there could be more they had missed as well.
He started running to the ramp area. He caught up with Ivan on the way, “Had the same thought then, boss, eh?”
They skidded to a halt outside the store shed with weapons raised to cover the four startled technicians pushing the next flying bomb out of the shed on its trolley.
“Where did you get the first missile from?” asked Jim, pushing the barrel of his weapon into the chest of the nearest technician.
The man shrugged and answered in Russian. Ivan stepped up and taking the man by the ear asked him again in the Russian he had learned so many years ago. It was rusty but the Russian Technician understood and replied.